Local Political Analysis: Environment, Youth and Budget Take Center Stage in Howard County

By George Berkheimer

The Howard County Council passed County Executive Ken Ulman's (D) Fiscal 2010 budget in May, approving the $1.4 billion operating budget and $392 million capital expenses budget with very few changes.
Despite the council's general agreement, Ulman did not win unanimous support for his proposals. Councilman Greg Fox (R-Dist. 5) cast a lone vote against four of the budget measures. Fox said it was unfair to ask county employees to do more with less only two years after registering surpluses that were spent on new programs instead of preparing for a future financial crunch that many saw coming.
"As I looked at the situation in total, I just could not support the budget," said Fox, who found particular fault with Healthy Howard, a health care access program for uninsured county residents with limited income.
Fox proposed cutting the county's $500,000 commitment to the program by half.
"I believe we have enough funds to get through another year even if we reduced the amount" based on enrollment figures and the program's own budget projections, he said.
Other members of the council balked at changing their original commitment to support the pilot program through a full year of operation that straddles two budget cycles.
"We'll be looking for evaluation as it goes forward to see if it makes progress," said Council Chair Mary Kay Sigaty (D-Dist. 4).
Council Member Courtney Watson (D-Dist. 1) said she remained "unconvinced that the county can fund this nonprofit in the future, but I do believe that the pilot program ... can provide significant information to us."

Agreement and Dissent
Commenting on the budget during the voting session, Sigaty said she was "pleased that we put as much into education as we could [because] education is the prime mover in Howard County."
Fox took exception to Ulman's security detail, which he said pulls two armed officers from the police force to play chauffeur while the much-touted hybrid vehicle purchased for the county executive sits unused.
He also objected to the added expense of constructing new LEED-certified buildings for the county while others are in a state of disrepair.
The county executive should evaluate not only small programs such as the GTV government television channel and government printing office (which Ulman disbanded), "but large ones as well," Fox said. "The next two years will not be any easier."

Cleaner Water
Last month, Howard County officials broke ground on a three-year, $100,000 project aimed at cutting the level of nutrients escaping from the county's wastewater treatment plant in Savage.
When finished in 2012, the new project will drastically reduce the amount of nitrogen in wastewater discharged from the plant from a current level of 3,900 pounds a day to approximately 830 pounds a day.
"Wastewater treatment plant upgrades continue to be the workhorses of [Chesapeake] Bay restoration," said Maryland's Secretary of the Environment Shari Wilson, explaining that the project should result in a 62% reduction in the amount of nitrogen and an 85% reduction in the amount of phosphorous released into the Little Patuxent River. "I don't have enough superlatives to tell you how important this is."
"This is one major piece of the puzzle we've been putting together [to help the environment,]" Ulman told the crowd gathered to witness the event.
Howard County will pay $47 million toward the cost of the project. The remainder will be covered by a $35 million state Bay Restoration Fund grant and state loans totaling $18 million.
According to Steve Gerwin, chief of the Bureau of Utilities, the wastewater treatment plant can handle up to 25 million gallons per day and will be expanding to a maximum capacity of 28 million gallons. Typical daily flow at the moment is roughly 18 to 19 million gallons.
As for those recovered nutrients, some are consumed by bacteria while 100% of those remaining in the biosolids that settle out of the water are hauled away for use as fertilizer by Maryland farmers.
"It's recycling in its purest form," said Gerwin, who acknowledged that the only disadvantage to the process is that the county loses money in the bargain.
"Compared to the environmental cost of not doing it, it's a small price to pay," he said.

Youth Commission
The Howard County Youth Task Force held a public meeting in May to seek community input on the possible creation of a Youth Commission in Howard County. The commission would advise the county council and serve as a mouthpiece for issues that impact county youth.
Co-chaired by Ananda Martin-Caughey, an Oakland Mills High School senior, and former School Board Member Joshua Kaufman, the task force was established by the county council in May 2008.
Since, the task force has surveyed local agencies and Howard County students to help formulate the proposed commission's scope.
A Youth Summit convened by the Voices for Change (VFC) student initiative also identified food in schools, greater involvement in the student government association and places for youth to congregate as the three most important issues that need solutions.
"[Summit participants] felt that youth need to have a voice in the community and a way to get people to hear that voice," said Jake Naftal, a VFC member who spoke on behalf of the organization. "They feel that a Youth Commission would be a good [solution]."
The next step for the task force is to evaluate the survey results and present a final report on the need for such a commission to the county council, along with suggestions for its composition.
"We will write the report this summer while taking some time to research other states and other parts of Maryland and look at gaps in existing organizations to see what is still needed," Martin-Caughey said.